


Such Stuff as Dreams are Made on

by Tish



Category: Sapphire and Steel
Genre: Actors, Friendship, Gen, Shakespeare Quotations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 17:31:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13663875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tish/pseuds/Tish
Summary: Is that a bear out there in the dark, or just a bush? Sapphire and Steel investigate!





	Such Stuff as Dreams are Made on

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Liadt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liadt/gifts).



The East Gromley Amateur Dramatics Society had a not so long, and not entirely glittering past. Still, the team fitted together like a glove, even it if was slightly frayed about the edges.

Sapphire slowly turned on the spot, surveying the lobby, speaking quietly. “Turn of the century building, some damage in the war, nothing particularly out of the ordinary about the place.”

“Yet here we are. _Something_ is going on here,” said Steel as he opened the fuse box.

“Then let's see what the people are like,” smiled Sapphire as she moved over to the inner doors.

“You won't toss a bucket of water over the first row by mistake, will you, my dear Paddy?” From inside the hall proper, the elegant voice of leading actor and man about town Frederick Gently delivered his customary greeting to the stage manager.

Sapphire peeked into the slightly ajar double doors and saw a hefty middle-aged woman heave a sigh and roll her eyes. “That was twenty years ago, you overblown ham hock.”

Gently puffed out his chest as he retorted, “Seasoned, not overblown. If you want overblown, go find our young gentleman ingénue, Mr. McClennan.”

Paddy wagged a finger at him as she leaned in to kiss his cheek. “You're a damned impossible man.”

“Let's see if we can rope in any newcomers to our little mad house,” laughed Gently as he finished setting up some chairs. “Ah! Come in, come in to my parlour, said the spider to the fly. Don't be shy.”

“You appear to have caught me,” Sapphire said as she opened one door fully and stepped into the main hall.

“A Viola if ever I saw one. Or perhaps the mighty and just Portia,” Gently's eyes lit up as Sapphire strode towards him.

“I'm Sapphire. How do you do?” She shook hands as Gently introduced himself and Paddy. “I'm not entirely sure why we're here, but I'm sure we'll find out one way or another.”

“We?” Paddy asked, brightening up. “Please tell me you brought a whole football team along, I could do with some extra hands about the place.”

“If only footballers looked like her,” Gently nudged Paddy as she shushed him.

“Alas, I'm just here with my partner, Steel,” Sapphire turned slightly. “He seems to have found something fascinating out there.”

“Hmm, fascinating is hardly the word I'd use to describe Mr. McClennan. Louche, perhaps,” Gently peered over her shoulder at the young man who'd just entered.

In the lobby, Steel tapped a fingernail against a fuse and scowled.

“Careful, don't want to go like our old Mr. Mackenzie,” a young man whispered close behind him.

Steel raised an eyebrow and turned slightly. “Go where?”

The young man held out his arms, shuddering as he made a buzzing sound. “Poor old sod electrocuted himself. Turns out he was colour-blind. Now all the electrics are up the spout. Hello, I'm Donovan McClennan. You looking to join us?” He tapped the poster on the wall.

Steel clicked a new fuse in place and shook his head. “We don't intend to stay very long, no.” He flicked a glance towards the hall as peals of laughter rang out.

“Sounds like we're missing some fun. Hey, the lights aren't flickering any more. You're good, Sparks. Come on. We may not have cakes and ale, but we do have tea and cucumber sandwiches!” McClennan beckoned with a finger as Steel took a last look around the lobby and followed.

 

“The pompadoured princelet appears at last, and he's brought a prospective Olivia, it seems,” Gently rumbled, shaking his head as he stared at McClennan's hair, then casting a critical eye over Steel's hair. He whispered, “Do none of these young people ever get a decent and proper haircut these days? Good Lord, please don't say _that_ is your husband?”

Sapphire just laughed and waved her hand at him.

McClennan slid a hand through the long lengths of hair on top of his head and smiled easily. “At least mine's real, grand-daddio.”

“Done to death by slanderous tongue,” growled Gently as he adjusted his hairpiece.

Paddy coughed and started the introductions, slicing through the faux tension. The arrival of a group of regulars and prospective newcomers brought some time and space for Sapphire and Steel to regroup.

 

“Have you sensed anything?” Steel asked, slowly looking around the room.

“Apart from Mr. Gently's rather amusing little crush on me, and young McClennan's crush on you, nothing out of the ordinary,” Sapphire smiled as Steel caught McClennan's eye from across the room as the young man touched a sugar cube to his tongue before dunking it in his tea. “I think he likes your hair,” Sapphire added.

“Anything else?” Steel sighed.

“You can't blame him, it's not exactly standard length for 1954, it does tend to catch the eye,” Sapphire laughed softly.

“A slight oversight on my part. I could change the length, but I think it may draw even more attention once I walk back in here,” Steel mused.

“Not to mention cause a broken heart,” Sapphire nodded in McClennan's direction as he responded to Paddy's signal and joined some of the cast on the stage.

 

With no makeup, or costume, no sets, no lighting, the actors spoke. The words were lyrical, the rhythm driving the emotion of the scene. McClennan's eyes shone with the passion of the words, Gently was transformed, his voice bold and commanding, desperate and mesmerising in turn.

In the wings, Paddy stood and watched the watchers, observing the audience taking the words to their hearts, transported to another world. Her eyes met Sapphire and Steel's and they saw her joy and satisfaction soften the years from her face.

 

Sapphire directed her thoughts at Steel.

~~There's no mystery, no terror here, nothing to be battled or contained. It's the words. All the years of being recited, all the laughter and tears the audiences felt. All the make-believe come to life. The play's the thing.~~

As they slowly moved away to the lobby, Steel paused for a moment to listen, nodding in understanding.

"And as imagination bodies forth  
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen  
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing  
A local habitation and a name."

 


End file.
